Integrated circuitry is typically fabricated on and within semiconductor substrates, such a bulk monocrystalline silicon wafers. In the context of this document, the term "semiconductive substrate" is defined to mean any construction comprising semiconductive material, including, but not limited to, bulk semiconductive materials such as a semiconductive wafer (either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials thereon), and semiconductive material layers (either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials). The term "substrate" refers to any supporting structure, including, but not limited to, the semiconductive substrates described above.
Electrical components fabricated on substrates, and particularly bulk semiconductor wafers, are isolated from adjacent devices by insulating materials, such as insulating oxides. One isolation technique uses shallow trench isolation, whereby trenches are cut into a substrate and are subsequently filled with insulating oxide, such as undoped silicon dioxide deposited by plasma-enhanced decomposition of tetraethylorthosilicate (PETEOS). In the context of this document, "substantially undoped" means a layer having a dopant concentration which is less than or equal to 10.sup.18 atoms/cm.sup.3. The insulating material is typically planarized back to define isolated trenches filled with oxide. Subsequently, a previously formed pad oxide layer is removed from over the substrate to expose silicon for processing. Unfortunately, removal of the pad oxide also etches the TEOS deposited oxide and can undesirably form "keyholes" in the shallow trench isolation oxide.
Although the invention spawned primarily out of these concerns, the artisan will appreciate applicability of the following invention in other areas of semiconductor processing.